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Tuesday, 22 March 2011

Random Excellence: Chema Madoz

Some of these conceptual still lifes by the Spanish photographer Chema Madoz will make you laugh, which of course means they can't be art. (I'm kidding.) Simple and elegant but very inventive; if you're in the mood, delightful.

A further sampling here; his site is here. All the books except this one are out of print.

Note: Links in this post may be to our affiliates; sales through affiliate links may benefit this site. More...Original contents copyright 2011 by Michael C. Johnston and/or the bylined author. All Rights Reserved.

Photographers should take a look at Spaniard photographers, from the great old reportage photographers (like Ramón Masats, Catalá-Roca, etc. ) to the "modern" wave of photographers (from Ouka Leele or Garcia-Alix, to Madoz, Isabel Muñoz, Cristina García Rodero or Castro-Prieto)... And many, many more names...

This photographer once got me into trouble. A few years ago I located and purchased for my firm's corporate collection the last available print of this Madoz image. http://swissmiss.typepad.com/photos/uncategorized/2007/11/02/picture_3.png
A year or two later my wife brought home a gastronomy magazine with the same image on the cover. She said that she bought the magazine specifically because she thought the cover art, which she had never seen before, was terrific. I told her that, not only did I agree, but that I had in fact previously selected the piece for my company. After searching high and low only to sadly confirm that no other prints of this image were available anywhere in the world, I was in the doghouse for not buying it for our personal collection. I still hear complaints about about this from time to time.

Thanks to Frank Baldé's tip, I went to see the exhibition in Rotterdam today.

The pictures were much more impressive when seen printed large, properly matted and framed. The prints were silver gelatine and they looked gorgeous, most of them in the 40x50cm format. Originally I was afraid that his pictures would perhaps give me the impression of looking at a clever gimmick. I am so glad that this wasn't the case at all and I was really, really impressed. I think we all agree on the creativity of Madoz. I dare say equally important are his excellent, zen-like compositions and the simplicity and the beauty of his pictures. I was truly moved and humbled. I really recommend his book, which contains hundreds of his pictures; laid out and printed very well.